Hodgson fears Premier League talent blockers will hurt international side

Roy Hodgson has launched an uncharacteristic assault on Premier League clubs for blocking English talent as pressure mounts to qualify for the World Cup.

Fixtures against Moldova on Friday, followed three days later by a showdown in Ukraine, look set to define Hodgson's first World Cup campaign in charge.

Although unbeaten, England are in the runners-up spot with four games to go in a qualifying group widely regarded as among the easiest.

Blocked path: Tottenham's Tom Carroll (centre)

Hodgson believes there is a lot of talent having their paths blocked by some clubs and said: 'There are a number of players at top clubs who their clubs rate unbelievably highly and who would be first-team starters were they not playing for the top four or five, where their way is blocked.'

As an example, he cited Tottenham midfielder Tom Carroll, named last week in the England Under-21 squad for the Euro 2015 qualifiers.

Carroll is mainly a squad player at Spurs and Hodgson said: 'I've worked at Fulham and West Brom and Tom Carroll would have played in both sides.

'I'm not criticising the Spurs coaches. All I'm saying is these players do exist. The problem is they are too good to let go but find it hard to get games.

'We must find a way of making sure we don't dismiss or lose these players.

'I hope not getting a lot of games is not going to destroy their careers - but it could happen.'